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THE CITY OK 

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WASHINGTON 


Photographs in Black 


FROM RECENT NEGATIVES 

•*i . BY 

Ti i k Albertype Company 


Published and Copyrighted, 1892, by 
A. WlTTEMANN, 

6 7 & 69 Spring Street, New York. 




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WEST FRONT OF CAPITOL 
























































































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DOME AND EAST PORTICO OF CAPITOL. 


































































































































THE CAPITOL—EAST FRONT 





















































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THE CAPITOL—West Front and Terrace. 





















GROUPS : CIVILIZATION AND DISCOVERY OF AMERICA—East Portico of Capitol. 

















































































































































THE CAPITOL—WEST FRONT. 

































































CAPITOL—Senate Chamber. 


































































CAPITOL—Hall of House of Representatives 



























































































































































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ROGERS' BRONZE DOOR. 





















































































































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SENATE MARBLE ROOM 



























































































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BARTHOLDI FOUNTAIN—Botanical Gardens 













































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GARFIELD STATUE AND WEST FRONT OF CAPITOL 
























































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WHITE HOUSE—Green Room. 


































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WHITE HOUSE—Blue Room. 





























THE WHITE HOUSE CONSERVATORY. 

























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THE WHITE HOUSE, TREASURY AND PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, 
From the War, State and Navy Departments. 







































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U. S. WAR, STATE AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS. 







































DIPLOMATIC RECEPTION ROOM — State Department. 

































































































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THE TREASURY 






























































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GENERAL POST OFFICE 
















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U. S. PATENT OFFICE 







































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U. S. PENSION BUREAU. 













COURT OF PENSION BUREAU. 



































































'NATIONAL MUSEUM 









































INTERIOR—NATIONAL MUSEUM. 





























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AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT AND CONSERVATORY. 













































































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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. 
























































THE AMERICAN BISON —Smithsonian Institute. 





































































































































































































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GROUNDS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, 















EMANCIPATION STATUE- Lincoln Park 


































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OLD FORD'S THEATRE, in Tenth Street, where President Lincoln was shot. 










































House No 516- 10th Street,N. W., in which PRESIDENT LINCOLN died April 15th 1865. 






















































































































































THE WASHINGTON LOAN AND TRUST CO. AND F STREET, from the Steps of the Patent Office 























































































































































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LUTHERAN CHURCH AND MARTIN LUTHER MONUMENT. 


















































































































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COURT HOUSE AND LINCOLN COLUMN 
















































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NATIONAL THEATRE. 








































































































NATIONAL BANK OF WASHINGTON 


LOUISIANA AVENUE 


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ADMIRAL FARRAGUT STATUE. 

























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RESIDENCE OF HON. JAS. G. BLAINE—Lafayette Square 





























































































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LAFAYETTE STATUE. 



















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BRITISH LEGATION 













































GENERAL McPHERSON STATUE. 



























CHURCH OF THE COVENANT, corner Connecticut Ave. and N Street, 



























EBBITT HOUSE. 













































GENERAL JACKSON STATUE — Lafayette Square 




































































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THE SHOREHAM, corner 15th and H Streets. 

















































































































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RESIDENCE OF JOHN 


HAY, corner of 16th and H Streets. 







































BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STATUE. 













































































U. S. S. BLAKE-Navy Yard 
































GEORGETOWN COLLEGE. 


























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SCOTT BUILDING — U. S. Soldiers’ Home. 













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GENERAL SHERIDAN MONUMENT Mt. Arlington Cemetery 






















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WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 















GEN. LOGAN TOMB AND AMPHITHEATRE - National Military Cemetery. 
























































































































































































































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OLD CHRIST CHURCH, Alexandria, Va 

































































































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MT. ARLINGTON—Late Residence of General Robert E, Lee 























































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y NLIKE most of tlie great American cities, which have grown to enormous proportions by agricultural, 
industrial and commercial enterprises, the old site on the Potomac and Tiber rivers, which Francis 
Pope bought of the Indians in 1663 and called Rome, owes its development to political causes. 

During the struggle for independence our national government had to move from town to town to avoid the 
British armies. But as soon as the eagle felt its wings, it looked for a nest of its own. 

The first congress, which assembled in New York on March 7th, 1789, immediately agitated the question of 
a permanent seat of the government. New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia and Maryland were particu¬ 
larly eager in contending for the honor and offered free sites and other inducements. After mature consideration, 
Congress on June 28th of the same year passed a bill locating the National Capitol at Pope’s homestead and the 
adjoining hamlets, Funkstown or Hamburg, (a german settlement at what is to-day Observatory Hill), and Car- 
rollsville (on Arsenal Point). A territory of ten square miles around the city, called the District of Columbia, 
was placed under the direct administration of the Congress, so as to make it perfectly independent from sectional 
influences and state politics. 

The plan of the City of Washington was drawn by Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant and laid out by Surveyor 
Andrew Ellicott. L’Enfant was a French engineer, who had come here from Paris in 1777 and served in the 
Continental army with great distinction. In mapping out the city he followed Le Notre’s plan of Versailles, 
making Pennsylvania and Maryland Avenues reproductions of the Avenue de Sceaux and de St. Cloud, diverging 
from the Cour Royale of the old residence of the French kings. Originally there were thirteen avenues, named 
after the states constituting the Union at the time of the foundation of the Capitol; now there are twenty-one 
radiating from principal centres and connecting different parts of the city. 

On October 13th, 1792, the corner stone of the President’s, generally called the White House, was laid, and, 
on September 18th, 1793, that of the Capitol. When the latter was first occupied by Congress in November 1800, 
but one wing had been erected. The two buildings of white sand-stone stood out shining objects in dismal con¬ 
trast to the semi-wilderness around and between them. 


Pennsylvania, the principal avenue, led to the White House yet on paper. The greater part of the distance 
was occupied by a deep morass covered with elder bushes. The roads in every direction wore the character of 
a new settlement with but isolated wooden habitations. John Adams was President then. Coming from the 
agreeable social life in Philadelphia, the officials and their ladies, Mrs. Adams in lead, gave free vent to their 
disgust with the “Wilderness City” or derided it as “Washington’s City on the Potomac,” or called it, as a face¬ 
tious Frenchman did, “the city of magnificent distances. 


But neither satire, nor opposition, nor perversity could prevent the city from growing. President Jefferson 
did much to further its prosperity by procuring grants of money for carrying on the public buildings and en¬ 
couraging improvements. He caused Pennsylvania Avenue to be opened and planted with trees. Large expen¬ 
ditures of public money on National works and many valuable improvements were also made under President 
Monroe. But the most important measures to lift Washington out of the “mud,” as they called it, were taken 
in recent times by Alexander R. Shepherd, Governor Henry D. Cooke and other progressive citizens. In 1871 
they secured the authority to make the necessary improvements. The government raised money by local taxation 
and the sale of District bonds, and within the ten following years twenty-five million of dollars were spent and 
thousands of laborers employed in making Washington what it is to-day, one of the most beautiful cities of the 
continent. 

The cornerstone of the old Capitol, which forms the centre of the present building, was laid by General Wash¬ 
ington on September 18th, 1794. The building was burnt by the British in 1814, but rebuilt under Benjamin 
Henry Latrobe’s, and after his resignation, Charles Bullfinch’s supervision during the years 1815-27. The white 
marble wings were added 1851-67. The northern wing with the famous bronze door by Randolph Rogers, contains 
the Senate Room, Marble Reception Room and Committee Rooms for the Senate and the southern wing similar 
accommodations for the House of Representatives. 

The Capitol stands on the western brow of Capitol Hill. It is 751 feet long and 324 feet wide and covers about 
four acres. The dome, 307^- feet high and 135^ feet in diameter, is crowned by a lantern surrounded by a peristyle 
and crowned by Crawford’s bronze Statue of Liberty; nearly four thousand tons of iron constitute its frame of ribs. 
The dome over-arches the rotunda, which is adorned by eight large historical paintings, historic busts and bas- 
reliefs. At its extreme height a canopy is suspended with Brumidi’s stucco-painting “ The Apotheosis of Washington.” 
The National Statuary Hall, formerly occupied by the House of Representatives is a perfect gem of Greek archi¬ 
tecture and is ultimately to contain statues of two of the most illustrious men of each state of the Union. 

The Library of Congress, for which a new building is now being erected, contains 640,000 volumes. 

The buildings, in which the work of governing our country is performed, are representative of the nation’s 
greatness. Only the dwelling of the President, in accordance with our democratic institutions, is rather plain. 

The Executive Mansion or White House, as it is commonly called, was begun in 1792 under the young Irish 
architect James Hoban, who closely copied the plan of the palace of the Duke of Leinster in Dublin, and completed 
it in 1800. On the first floor of the house are the state-rooms and on the second the President’s private apartments, 
the cabinet room, library and offices. 


The State, War and Navy Departments occupy an immense quadrangular granite building, covering four and 
a half acres, which was erected by A. B. Mullet in 1871-1888 at a cost of about eleven million of dollars. 

The buildings of the Treasury, the Interior Department, which also contains the offices and collections of the 
Patent Office, the Post Office, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Department of Agriculture, and Pension Office 
are imposing structures showing a tasteful blending of the massive ancient and the more elegant renaissance and 
modern architectural combinations. 

The Smithsonian Institution contains large and valuable anthropological, botanical, geological and zoological 
and the Army Medical Museum anatomical, medical, microscospical and surgical collections: The Corcoran Art. 
Gallery enshrines many valuable paintings and works of art by old and modern masters. 

The Bartholdi Fountain stands in the Botanical Garden, near the foot of Capitol Hill, and from here leads a 
chain ornamental garden and park through the grounds of the Smithsonian Institute and Agricultural Department 
up to the slight elevation near the banks of the Potomac, on which stands what is now the highest monumental 
structure in the world, the Washington Monument. It is an obelisk of solid granite 555 feet high, and 55 feet square 
at its base. An elevator lands the visitor at the top, and here an unequaled view presents itself of the city and out¬ 
lying points of interest for tens of miles. 

On F Street is the Trust Building, the new Scott Building , &c. 

The United States Navy Yard covers 27 acres of ground and has a cannon foundry, large barracks and workshops 
and an interesting collection of trophies. 

The nation’s gratitude towards its heroes and great statesmen found a vivid expression by a large number of 
monuments which adorn the capitol. 

Among the other remarkable monuments are that of General Jackson, (particularly remarkable on account of the 
balancing of the horse on its hind legs, a position successfully given to but two other monuments of a similar size, 
(General Bolivar and Peter the Great,) General Scott, General Thomas, Admiral Farragut, the Presidents Lincoln and 
Garfield, the Marquis of Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, the Peace or Naval Monument. 

The Cemeteries also contain a large number of monuments. The most interesting places of rest for the departed 
are the Congressional Cemetery, Glenwood, National Military, (adjoining the Soldiers’ Home,) Mount Arlington, (Gen. 
Sheridan Monument,) and Oak Hill Cemetery. 

Christ Church, in Alexandria, contains the pews of General Washington, No. 59, and General Lee, No. 46. 

By social gayeties and political possibilities, Washington attracts a large number of visitors from all parts of the 
country, many of whom come to stay. As a natural result, the number of elegant private residences and apartment 
houses receives constant addition, and the time is not distant, when the country’s capitol will be one of the great 
and cosmopolitan cities of the world. 







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